The best DK2 version for real

[Yihka]

Before you reject this whole post, yes I have looked around a bit and from what I hear, everyone has another view on what the best version is. This is highly confusing and I of course want to have the real best version without having to try them all out.




So what I've read on this forum is that 1.3 and 1.5 are really stable, some even say 1.5 is more stable or that the "cracked" version of 1.3 is perfect. 1.7+ seems to be the most unstable...

However, when I look around under for example DK2 Multiplayer, I read that you should upgrade DK2 all the way to 1.73. ( source: http://keeperklan.com/threads/98-A-c...K2-multiplayer ) ... What I do not understand is that why would I want to upgrade DK2 all the way to 1.73 if 1.7+ is really unstable ? If I want to play a multiplayer game I do not want to crash and/or get all kind of weird bugs.

So because of that, I read another topic, one that explains multiplayer problems and fixes... ( source: http://keeperklan.com/threads/17-Mul...lems-and-Fixes ) Sure, there is some helpful stuff in it but for example it says that some maps are bugged (Corrupt map?) and that some keepers have no gold/mana ... Okay... Nice to know. How do I solve that? Which maps are corrupt? How do I fix the no gold/mana issue?

My first glimpse at this forum makes me highly confused with stickies and topics all saying a different thing with no real solutions making it all of a mess. Seeing how this forum is active, there must be some people that actually know what's best? If so, why not remove all those bad topics and/or update them and make a better topic explaining everything? That way users that visit this forum won't have to search through all of these topics.





Apart from that and I really hope that this topic will at least make people realize that this might be a problem, here are my questions:

1.Well, knowing there are different versions of Dungeon Keeper, which one is the one everyone uses? Why?

2.This version everyone uses, is this also the most stable one? Can you actively play Dungeon Keeper multiplayer matches without having fear it will crash and ruin everything? Does it miss/have any (new) features ?

3.If it is the most stable one ( If it isn't, refer to the most stable one and answer this question ) does this version crash and/or have any problems?


For me the most important is that I can basically play the game. Singleplayer and Multiplayer. For me, features are way less important if that means the game won't crash anymore.

Thank you in advance for your reaction! I am not trying to be mean or anything I just want a clear answer and I hope a clear answer can also be stickied so that this same question does not have to be repeated every time.

[rooz]

I remember long ago that 1.3 (I think) was meant to be best verse AI, and seemed vary stable on XP/Vista/Win7

Currently on Desktop Win7 with DKII 1.5 Cracked and DK has only crashed once, out of countless hours playing.
On my Laptop same as above and no problems.

So really I am not sure what is "the best" but personally 1.5 just works for me.

[Beeb]

I use DK2 Silver Edition. It's some sort of fanhack, I think.

Anyway, follow all the standard procedures, disable core 2 and whatever, and you can get it working without crashing.

[Yihka]

Well after I made the post I looked around a bit more and noticed that the correct way to install DK2 is under DK2 troubleshooting.

This is the link: http://keeperklan.com/threads/654-PL...BEFORE-POSTING

I think a sticky under DK2 itself would be better though



I am guessing this way is the most proper way to install DK2 ?

[DragonsLover]

Err... well, I find it more appropriate to be in the Troubleshooting section.

And well, yes, that's the proper way to install DK2. Installing the game and make it to run it straight will result of a crash most of the time. You have to tweak a bit to make it working properly. The gold rules are:
1. Remove SafeDisc.
2. Play using a single core.
3. Disable Hardware Acceleration when you get a black screen.
4. Play in 800 x 600 to avoid a display crash of the menu.
5. Play with the command lines to see if you could get a better result.

That should make it. If you still get a crash, then it's may be the fault of a bad level design. Indeed, I got crashes on levels where a door is placed in water or bonus crates are placed in lava.
I have Windows 64bit Dual Core and I followed these rules and the game run totally fine.

[dotted]

In short buy the version from GOG.com

[Yihka]

Ah, I see

I have actually never tried out the SafeDisc solution, so I think the rare crashes I've had were SafeDisc crashes. Apart from the no gold/mana crashes of course

Hmm about the www.gog.com version. On the site itself I've read that it was very buggy but that's probably because it does not do everything Dragonslover described



It's quite a shame though that the game can still crash because of misplaced items.